


The Once and Future Florist

by Australis_Reynolds



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Florist Merlin, M/M, Modern Era, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 13:31:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11990817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Australis_Reynolds/pseuds/Australis_Reynolds
Summary: Merlin waits for Arthur. Arthur waits by his side.





	The Once and Future Florist

**Author's Note:**

> This was not supposed to be so angsty. That happened on its own.

The first time Arthur comes back, it’s as a rabbit. Unfortunately, Merlin does not recognize the significance of the rabbit sitting next to him by the lake. Its long ears and twitchy little nose strike him as cute, to be sure. It does bite him enough that, before everything that happened, he would have called it a royal prat and maybe realized just who the rabbit really was.

That isn’t for this lifetime, though. In this lifetime, Arthur can nibble on Merlin’s fingers as much as he pleases, but Merlin will never know there’s a reason for the rabbit’s apparent aggression issues. All he knows is that there’s a belligerent rabbit haunting him for the first two or three years he sits by the lake.

On a sunny spring day, Arthur dies again by the side of the lake. Merlin doesn’t even realize that the rabbit is gone until he discovers the body the next day. He cries when he takes it into his arms. It was a clotpole in life – and for a moment the rabbit actually does remind him of Arthur – but still he doesn’t make the connection. He buries the small, limp body by the side of the lake, and then plants flowers above it. He will miss its foul temper.

In his next incarnation, Arthur is a bird. He feels that his chances of getting Merlin to recognize him might be a little better now, but his endeavours prove just as unsuccessful as they did the last time. He caws at Merlin day and night. His heart lifts momentarily when he hears his former manservant call him a cabbagehead, but Merlin never seems to understand.

On more than one occasion, he settles in among the flowers and hopes that the clever warlock will be able to recognize some kinship between the bird and the rabbit, but to no avail. Arthur is so incensed at Merlin’s stupidity that he nips at his enormous, stupid ears. Merlin cries out and waves him off, but continues to sit by the side of the lake, awaiting a king who’s already returned for him.

When the bird dies, Merlin cries again and buries it by the rabbit’s side, near the patch of flowers it seemed to love so much. He plants more flowers to cover them, and then turns back towards the lake.

The next time Arthur comes back, he’s a stag. He’s proud of his new form – it’s strong and mobile. Nothing compared to his old human form, naturally, but he feels confident in his ability to make Merlin recognize him at last. He’s already a few weeks old when he finds Merlin this time and he’s begun to worry that his faithful manservant may have relocated. He hasn’t, of course.

Arthur headbutts Merlin on sight, which the dense warlock inexplicably does not appreciate. Arthur, for his part, does not appreciate being waved away from the flowers every time he tries to eat them. They're his, after all.

Arthur grows larger and stronger. As a fully-grown stag, his antlers are quite impressive, if he does say so himself. Merlin will have to understand who he is now. A large, powerful animal like that could only be Arthur.

He knocks Merlin over to test this theory, but all he gets is some indignant sputtering. He’s taken Merlin apart with one blow, but the man hasn’t made any connections yet. For the first time in his lives, Arthur is genuinely disappointed in Merlin. They’re supposed to reconnect as soon as possible, he’s sure, and yet his former manservant can’t see what’s right in front of him.

When the stag dies, Merlin buries it, too. He can’t cover all the ground he’s dug up with individual flowers this time, so he searches long and hard for just the right rosebush. Merlin knows it when he finds it – the buds are Pendragon red, and that’s become his favourite shade in the years since he lost Arthur. He plants the bush over the stag and continues waiting by the lake.

In his next incarnation, Arthur doesn’t try to irritate Merlin into recognizing him. Winding him up isn’t distinctive enough, apparently. In this lifetime, Arthur is a squirrel and he simply sits by Merlin’s side. This is the first incarnation during which he’s more or less happy. Merlin brings him nuts and lets him sleep beneath the rosebush.

Merlin cries looking at the lake and the rosebush, sometimes. All through the day he sits and he waits. On the few occasions on which he speaks, his voice is rusty from disuse. Arthur wishes he could form the words to tell his friend that he is not alone, but settles for sitting in Merlin’s lap until the tears pass.

When the squirrel dies, Merlin cries longer than he did for any of the others. He gives it its own rosebush, also in Pendragon red, so that it can lie forever beneath its favourite roses. Afterwards, he makes a tent – the first shelter he’s allowed himself in all these years – and places it a few metres away. He can’t stand to see the flowery graves day and night.

Centuries pass and Arthur begins to understand. He isn’t allowed to be reunited with Merlin yet. Not properly, at least. He is only being allowed to stay by Merlin’s side while they wait for the day when Arthur is human again.

In the early 1900s, modernity begins to encroach on the lake. Merlin rents a two-bedroom flat near the lake. He buys the land he’s been living on for the past centuries and erects a greenhouse.

It’s around this time that Arthur comes back as a dog. He finds it fortuitous, really. As soon as he’s old enough to walk on his own, he seeks out Merlin. After a few weeks of being accompanied by the friendly stray, Merlin accepts the dog into his flat. He still regards the empty bedroom with sadness, but he seems a bit cheered to share his flat with the Golden Retriever. In this lifetime, he names Arthur Excalibur.

The first world war comes, and Merlin begins to expect Arthur. Arthur knows this because preparations begin for the spare bedroom. There’s a big, plush bed and the entire room is decorated in shades of red. His heart aches for Merlin when the war comes and goes without the return of the once and future king. Merlin grows bored with only Excalibur and the greenhouse to occupy his time and opens a florist shop.

Merlin calls Excalibur a prat more often than he calls him by his actual name. Arthur has long since stopped expecting Merlin to recognize him as an animal, but he begins to have hope. He lives a long and happy life sharing Merlin's bed. The warlock has to expand his greenhouse to accommodate all the roses he plants to mourn Excalibur.

When he reincarnates in 1990, Arthur doesn’t immediately recognize the form he’s taken this time. He is small and can’t see well. He eats and eats, and then seems to be asleep for a long time before he emerges. Arthur flutters about aimlessly. He’ll never find Merlin like this. In this lifetime, he does nothing but fly among the flowers.

For the first time, Arthur is the once who can’t recognize Merlin. He doesn’t realize that, for a single day of this minute lifetime, he’s in a greenhouse. He doesn’t realize that Merlin sees him as a butterfly – Pendragon red, nearly blending in with the flower he’s landed on – and begins to hope.

Two weeks later, Arthur the butterfly is no more, but there’s an infant with blond hair and blue eyes wailing in a nearby hospital.

Merlin grows certain that the time is near. He runs into a seventeen-year-old Gwaine behind the counter of his favourite Thai takeaway. Gwaine smiles at him with recognition, and they are reunited. Gaius comes into the shop for flowers. Within a few years, Merlin's found all the Knights of the Round Table, in addition to Morgana and Gwen. In this lifetime, they’re a lovely couple.

In 2014, Merlin thinks about adding a flat above his shop. That summer, expansion begins. He’s sitting in his shop, waiting for the plumber to arrive when he nearly falls over.

“Somebody wanted help with their plumbing – please tell me that’s you,” a young blond man says. Then he stares at Merlin and his eyes widen as though he’s waking from a dream. For a moment, neither man speaks. Then a grin nearly splits Merlin’s face in half and, after close to a millennium, he can’t hold the words in for one second longer.

“You kept me waiting, dollophead.”

“I came as fast as I could,” Arthur protests.

The flat above the shop ends up needing only one bedroom.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are the best motivation to keep writing. :)


End file.
